


Touch

by Say_lon_I



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Feelings Realization, Implied Relationships, Levi/Erwin Smith-centric, M/M, Meta, POV Eren Yeager
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:29:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27489619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Say_lon_I/pseuds/Say_lon_I
Summary: The Captain doesn’t like being touched. One young cadet notices some discrepancies in that narrative, though.
Relationships: Levi/Erwin Smith
Comments: 20
Kudos: 214





	Touch

The Captain doesn’t like being touched.

 _It’s filthy_ , he says. Who knows where some bastard has laid his hands and how many fucking germs are on said bastard’s skin?

 _It’s annoying_ , he adds at times. He’s not your buddy or lover or anything of the sort for you to go touching him for no good reason. He isn’t your family. He isn’t even your friendly next-door neighbor.

And lastly: _it's unnecessary_ , because who the hell needs to initiate physical contact with a man such as Captain Levi? Who has any business touching Humanity’s Strongest? It’s nothing short of suicide.

Eren gets it; he keeps his distance.

Not that he’s overly physical himself or anything like that. Hates Mikasa sticking too close to him, can't count on one hand how many times he's wanted to kick Armin out of bed because the boy has a habit of rolling into Eren's space in the early hours of the morning.

The Captain is also unpredictable - an untrodden territory. Three years of Military Academy has beaten it into the young man that orders from a higher authority are absolute. His personal experiences have only added to it. Being subjected to the harsh beatings that were bestowed on him in the court some time ago is not how he wants the rest of his days in the Survey Corps to go.

Whatever others say, Eren isn’t a suicidal bastard.

There are those infrequent times, though, where he's noticed that Captain Levi doesn’t mind being touched. Like when he’s consoling a dying soldier in his awkward, broken and highly roundabout way of speaking. Like when he’s helping the trainees with their self-defense techniques, or consecutively, beating the shit out of some poor sod. Like when his fingers just barely brush against Eren’s as he accepts a cup of tea or some document or - at times when he's being heedlessly true to himself - a broom.

Those instances are not as rare as he'd like to think.

Eren staples a bunch of papers that he’s been ordered to, something he couldn't have read even if he squinted for several minutes and raked his brain. He watches his Captain looking into a folder that Erwin Smith is holding. They are standing close; too close. The Commander’s shoulder is barely but surely brushing against the side of his right hand man's hair. Captain Levi is clicking his tongue at something the other is pointing at in the document. Eren feels like he shouldn’t be watching; like he’s intruding on something private, which is absolutely ridiculous, because Squad Leader Hanji is there too, chirping merrily beside him as he staples some more papers, squints some more, and the setting is anything but private.

And then the taller man touches Captain Levi; strokes the skin of that freshly trimmed, well-maintained undercut for hardly a moment. He’s laughing, quiet but amused, at something definitely snarky the Captain has uttered, and the Captain continues to click his tongue, appearing thoroughly unimpressed.

The second passes, an eon to the young recruit, really, and Erwin Smith strolls back towards Squad Leader Hanji, joining in with the chirps that are making Eren go round the bend little by little. He can’t deny that the man has a nice laugh. He can’t deny that just looking at that tall, broad form both intimidates and reassures him. Eren’s stomach knots a little, because even though the Captain doesn’t look back at Erwin Smith, he’s now running a hand through his undercut absently, the fingers lingering there a tad bit too long for Eren’s comfort, and that’s again something not private at all, but still makes Eren feel like an intruder.

It’s hardly a nice feeling, so he concentrates on stapling the rest of the papers instead.

Eren learns that there are, in fact, times - rare, oh so rare, but there - when Captain Levi _likes_ being touched. It’s sad that it’s only a thing when Erwin Smith is involved.

**Author's Note:**

> A thingmajing written back in 2015 for eruriweek, I think? Wanted to put it here so all my writing is in one place.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment!


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